Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1887-06-09
QUEER WAYS IN PARIS.
Things They Do There as They Never DO
Them Here.
Especial Correspondence

Especial Correspondence
PARIS, April 29-The girls who sew and
tend store here go bareheaded. They
wear no bonnets on week days; the
bonnet is for Sundays. They go to the
BARRIERS to have their hair dressed. /
was shaved this morning alongside Of a girl.
1t took the barber half an hour to pile her
hair up in shape. The barber's wife lathered
me while he worked on the girl.
The street cars only stop at stations
about quarter Of mile apart. They
won't stop for you anywhere else l have
been taken for lunatic all day "hollering"
and signaling cars. The drivers grinned and
passed me- jumped on one car in motion.
They stopped and put me off. More than
this they make out a way bill for all the
passengers at every station, which must be
signed and stamped and punched as if it was
a treaty of peace between two countries.
Further still, the customs officer at the city
gates goes through your bag, basket or sachel
to see if you're bringing in any contraband
eggs, butter or cheese into Paris from the
country. This on every street car running
into town from the suburbs. 1t takes five
minutes to change the car horses.
The idiots actually take all the har-
ness off one team and put it on
the beasts to be next driven. Pork is
higher priced here than any other meat. A
pork shop keeps nothing but pork. There are
twenty five kinds of cheese. What they call
milk we would call skim milk. What we
call milk here they call cream. There is no
salt in their butter. Everything is wate1ed.
Their cider is one-fourth water They stuff
gingerbread with boiled chestnuts They
have gingerbread fairs. There is no ginger
in their gingerbread. 1t seems from two to
four years old. A slab of it will bend like
piece of India rubber. They bake it into lit
tie kings and queens two feet long. There
are loaves of bread here nearly as long as a
fence rail. | saw a boy yesterday carrying
some along the street The ends dragged on
the pavement. When he stopped to talk pol
itics with another boy he laid all his bread
carefully down on the curbstone 1t sets one
to thinking when you eat bread here They
charge cent extra for napkin at the res
taurant.
Street cars here on some lines start only
once in fifteen minutes. Pace funereal. Have
seen four cars in a row. Last car in row had
just one hour to wait Full. All happy.
Gauls don't mind waiting Just sit and CAB,
CAB, CAB, Carry passengers on top. Car
hurricane deck called 'L1mperiale." No
one allowed to stand. Another Amer
lean privilege denied here. French dogs
all shaved. Object, to make 'em look
like lions. Saw dog yesterday with set of
false teeth. They worked. Have heard of
one with spectacles in the Rue st. Denis.
Monster cats here Fur fluffy. Small tigers.
Two cent ferry boats. Right through Paris,
on the Seine Called "water omnibuses.n
ohoy q Of lon NJ
body allowed to jump from boat to shore.
Two pairs of gates. One on the boat,
the other on the landing. Man to
guard each. Great care for life and limb
here. But lots of chances to kill yourself
with absinthe Good brandy at fifty cents
quart bottle! Seltzer only three cents a
siphon. One can live here ON brandy and
seltzer at twenty-five cents a day. Tea
Bon pour Ia digestion. Only drank when
sick. Called for some at cheap restaurant
yesterday. Probably first time ever called
for there. Man went over and bought some
at grocer's opposite. Took it from glass Jar
there four years Took 'em fifteen minutes
to make cup! No. Brought it to me in a
quart soup bowl with big table spoon! All
the Gauls present looking on curiously.
Nary taste of tea in it. Six cents &
meal restaurant. Customers bring their
own bread. Loaf under their arms. Plenty
of bread at most restaurants Loaves slung
along the tables to cut from at will. No
starvation slices and bread waters as in New
York. Cigars all made by government.
Washed out tobacco. Postage stamps always
kept at cigar shops. Might as well smoke
postage stamp as cigar Tried in vain to
smoke one kind for three days. Long cigar.
Slender. Wouldn't draw. Found out why
at last Broom straw run through it. Broom.
straw to be pulled out before smoking. Makes
draught hole. Had been trying to smoke
Partisan "long nine" with straw in it. Coffee
burned blacker than with US. Burned to a
cinder Street coffee and milk two cents a
bowl Kept at every corner early in the
by old women. No coffee in it.
Chicory, licorice and other denominations.
Yellow as rhubarb. Valuable as a cathartic.
"